Early life
Jean Little was born in
Taiwan in 1932. Her parents were both doctors. They were working for the
United Church of Canada as missionaries. She has lived in Canada since she was seven. Jean Little had scars on her corneas and her pupils were off center, which dulled her vision and made it hard to focus. Despite this, she still attended regular school and graduated in 1955 from the
University of Toronto with an honours degree in English.
Professional Work
Jean taught handicapped children until 1962, when her first book, ''
Mine for Keeps'', was published. Since then, she has had 31 books published, including novels, picture books, autobiography, poetry and short stories. Her books have been translated into ten languages and have won many awards.
Three of Jean Little's more recent books are ''Orphan at My Door: The Home Child Diary of Victoria Cope'' (2001), ''Brothers Far from Home: The World War I Diary of Eliza Bates'' (2003), and ''If I Die Before I Wake: The Flu Epidemic Diary of Fiona Macgregor'' (2007) for the popular historical fiction series,
Dear Canada. All three books have been very well-received.
Currently, Jean lives in
Guelph, Ontario, with her sister, great-niece and great-nephew. They have two dogs, two cats, a dwarf rabbit and two African Grey parrots. Jean is an adjunct professor at the
University of Guelph where she has taught children's literature. She has four honorary degrees and is a member of the
Order of Canada. Her most recent honorary degree, a Doctor of Letters, was awarded by the
University of Toronto on June 23, 2006. At that time, she was accompanied by her newest seeing eye dog, a two-year-old golden retriever called Honey. Her niece
Maggie de Vries was a finalist for the
2003 Governor General's Awards for her book ''Missing Sarah: A Vancouver Woman Remembers Her Vanished Sister''.
http://www.missingpeople.net/they_know_she_was_murdered.htm